The 19th Annual New York Botanical Garden Holiday Train Show, in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, is chugging along with vivacity and charm! There are over 100 hand-crated New York City and New York State landmarks, all in miniature, with a giant Brooklyn Bridge as well. The collection grows each year. You will see the Statue of Liberty, Yankee Stadium, the original Penn Station, Radio City Music Hall, the Flatiron Building, the actual Haupt Conservatory where the Train Show is presented, The Hayden Planetarium, the TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sunnyside, Highland Gardens, and much, much more. The replicas, that take months of research and designing, were crafted by Paul Busse, Brian Busse, and Applied Imagination in Alexandria Kentucky.

The natural craft materials used are seeds, twigs, leaves, pine cones, gourds, bark, and other plant sources. Freeze-dried tea roses are used for the glass sphere (Hayden Planetarium) in the Rose Center for Earth and Space, with pods for planets and wood fungus for steps. One replica of a 1792 Dutch-American House has siding of birch bark and a porch roof of pine bark. The new TWA Flight Center is constructed of curly willow stems from India, with a roof of Grandleaf Seagrape tree leaves, banana bunch stems, bean pods, willow branches, and black locust tree shelf fungus. Children and adults will love this adventure, as tiny ladybug trains, replicas of late 1800’s steam engines, high speed passenger trains, street cars, circus cars, trolleys, and Thomas the Tank Engine, chug along on tiny tracks and bridges, through the lush foliage of The Conservatory. There’s also a live Conductor to welcome the guests!

While visiting the Holiday Train Show, stop by The Shop in the Garden, where you will find Christmas tree ornaments, gifts for children, gifts for Holiday Hosts and Hostesses, and gardening gifts for yourself! They also have a new full-color photography book, called All Aboard!, that describes the history and details of the Holiday Train Shows, with a complete list of all the replicas in the collection. And, there’s free shipping at The Shop in the Garden, throughout the US. You should also stop by the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden to see how gingerbread is made. Children can create designs of plant seeds, plus decorate gingersnap cookies, all to take home. At the Discovery Center, there’s a gingerbread jazz band, ice skater, and farmer, all in their own storybook adventures. In addition to The Holiday Train Show and Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, the Holidays offer expansive exploration of lush landscape and indoor art at The New York Botanical Garden. Check out these additional links, and you can see several art exhibitions for the price of one ticket to the Holiday Train Show!